Postimees Digest, Monday, February 11
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Postimees
Estonia: three candidates for chief of police shortlisted
The next director general of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) will be chosen from among Erkki Koort, currently deputy secretary general of the Interior Ministry; Tarmo Miilits, PPA's deputy director general for public order police; and Tõnu Hunt, PPA's deputy director general for border guard, the daily Postimees says.
The three candidates were advanced by the personnel selection committee into the second round where they will have to take various tests and have an interview with the committee this week. The committee will pick the winner by the beginning of next week.
The three candidates still in the running for head of Estonia's largest organization were chosen from a field of six.
Eesti Energia: general service margin is cost-oriented and justified.
Head of the Competition Board Märt Ots told ERR radio news over the weekend that Eesti Energia's general service sales margin of 0.72 cents per kilowatt hour is too high and that the board will look into the matter. Consumers and electricity brokers believe that the general service margin should not be higher than that of electricity exchange packages as in the former case companies do not even have to enter into contracts.
Eesti Energia's market packages margin was 0.29 cents. Head of electricity sales at Eesti Energia Karla Agan said that the company's general service price is entirely cost-oriented and justified and that the company is willing to cooperate with the board.
Agan said that different electricity sellers have different costs and consumption volumes and that Eesti Energia has to maintain an extensive service network and bear much bigger financial risks than its smaller competitors. He added that the 0.72 cent sales margin does not equal the company's profit margin but rather makes up 3-4 percent of the latter and that clients are free to opt out of the general service at any time.
State child protection efforts not enough.
The National Audit Office has concluded its first child care audit and finds that in a situation where 44,000 children live in municipalities that do not have a single child care worker, the state is clearly not doing enough. Child care officials number too few in most local governments, a problem that concerns 170,000 children across the country.
Social workers said they have barely enough capacity do help people who seek help themselves and that there are not enough resources to delve deep or intervene before problems get out of hand. Shortage of preventative and long-term services was considered as the number one deficiency by the audit office. The audit also found that the state must lay down exact quality and prevention work requirements. The agency wrote that local governments do not have a clear overview of children in risk groups and that reporting on the situation of children living in substitute homes is sporadic.
Ministry to relax physical condition requirements of conscripts.
The defense ministry is looking to relax the physical condition benchmark of suitability for service in the Defense Forces as recent requirements have led to a situation where the army can accept fewer and fewer servicemen due to their physical condition. Inspection boards will pay more attention to conscripts' current physical condition as opposed to diseases suffered earlier in life.
New requirements also call for thorough medical expertise in case of several diseases as opposed to subjective decisions made by doctors to rule out cases where people turn to acquaintances to be freed of compulsory military service. Some requirements will also become stricter as people with impaired sight or suffering from acute rheumatism and schizophrenia will automatically be exempt from the obligation to serve.